The former Vatican treasurer is the most senior church official ever imprisoned for such offenses and the highest ranking Catholic cleric in Australia.

According to Church officials, he passed away from cardiac issues following hip surgery.

Prior to becoming one of the Pope’s top advisors, Cardinal Pell served as the Archbishop of both Melbourne and Sydney.

He was frequently referred to as the third-ranking official in the Church until he was called to Rome in 2014 to clean up the Vatican’s finances.

The cleric, however, abandoned his position in 2017 and went back to Australia to stand trial for alleged child sex assault.

In 2018, a jury determined that he had assaulted two boys while serving as Melbourne’s archbishop.

Cardinal Pell, who consistently insisted on his innocence, was imprisoned for 13 months before the High Court of Australia overturned the judgment in 2020.